Between a frozen trade, a new lottery pick and a remade backcourt, the Clippers' first lineup of next season is finally coming into focus.
Opening night still feels far away, but the shape of the Clippers' new rotation is already visible through the offseason fog.
This roster has been remade twice in six months, first at the February deadline when Darius Garland arrived from Cleveland in the James Harden deal, then again through a summer defined by the still-pending Kawhi Leonard trade with Toronto.
The picture that emerges is younger, deeper and built around a point guard entering his first full season in Los Angeles.
One caveat hangs over everything.
Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick only become Clippers when the Leonard deal is finalized, and ESPN has reported the trade will not be completed until the league's investigation wraps up, a timeline commissioner Adam Silver says must end before next season begins.
Planning around that uncertainty is awkward, but the basketball logic underneath is clean.
The Projected Starting Five
Garland is the offensive engine, and his short Los Angeles sample was encouraging, as he averaged 19.9 points while hitting 43.8 percent from three in 19 games after the trade.
Kris Dunn projects as his backcourt partner, with Ingram sliding in on the wing once the deal closes.
Rui Hachimura, the team's big July addition on the mid-level exception, slots in at power forward, and Brook Lopez returns in the middle after the team exercised his option.
Hachimura may prove the most important newcomer of the group.
He shot 44.3 percent from deep last season, and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank explained the fit plainly when the signing became official.
"Rui is an elite 3-point shooter and an efficient mid-range scorer who uses his size to exploit mismatches," Frank said.
"He will strengthen our frontcourt with his one-on-one defense and ability to space the floor."
Fits like that do not need many touches, which is why the pairing with Garland makes sense on paper.
The Second Unit Takes Shape
Keaton Wagler, the No. 5 pick, headlines the bench, and Sports Illustrated projected earlier this offseason that he could start next to Garland right away, though the outlet's more recent depth chart slots him as the backup point guard to ease his entry.
Dick arrives with a shooter's pedigree, though that same projection begins the season with him outside the rotation, while Kobe Sanders returns on a new four-year deal and Yanic Niederhauser projects as the backup center when healthy, with Isaiah Jackson next in line for frontcourt minutes.
Sports Illustrated's latest projection describes a nine-man rotation when everyone is available, which leaves real competition for the final spots once camp begins.
Why This Group Could Surprise
A rebuild with this much draft capital was supposed to look bleaker than this.
The roster still features a productive lead guard, a proven shooter at forward and enough young depth that the front office explored far bigger swings before landing here.
The books stay clean enough that fans can look forward to the 2027 offseason with genuine optimism, and the Anthony Davis idea floated in June always looked like a short-term detour rather than a plan.
The rotation above is the bridge between those two timelines, and if the young pieces develop on schedule, it might even be a bridge worth watching for its own sake.
